


You're Mine

by PennameAB (PenNameAB)



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Instability, Romance, anguish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 00:14:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4855973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenNameAB/pseuds/PennameAB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian Castellanos thought that he was finally free of Ruvik and STEM when he got out finally. He thought that he could return to the real world and carry on being a detective for Krimson City. Turns out he's wrong. Ruvik's not done with him and Mobius isn't either. With both parties taking an interest, heads are bound to clash and alliances are bound to be made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

He thought he could recover on his own, after Beacon, he thought that if he could just bury himself in work then the events would just sink into the back of his mind like a bad dream. That’s all it was, a terrible nightmare he had to go through. Only, it was harder to forget than he thought. Joseph was dead, the man’s desk pressed against his in their office. Sebastian had refused a new partner when his captain was trying to reassign him one. Not after Joseph. Hell, not after Kidman’s betrayal. He didn’t want another partner. He couldn’t risk losing another partner. First it was Myra after Lily’s death, then Joseph. It would seem that he had a bad rep starting with his partners.

  
Not only had he refused a new partner, he also refused to go and get checked out by a doctor, even at his captain’s request. He never hated hospitals, there was no reason for him to. Now he had one. He would do everything he could to avoid going to one from now on. At least until his paranoia of them wavered a bit. Which wasn’t likely to happen any time soon. After the paramedic that was stationed outside of Beacon had examined, giving him a clean bill of health except for some fatigue but suggested going to a real hospital for testing, he said that he was fine and just hadn’t gone.

  
Right now, he was trying to fill out his report of what had happened at Beacon, which was just protocol for any investigation, without sounding like he had lost his mind. How would you explain being stuck in a machine where a dead man who was only a brain reigned as god and toyed with you as you tried to escape? You didn’t. There was no way to. And that’s what Sebastian’s short coming was at the moment. With a shot of hard whiskey on his desk, a lit cigarette between his fingers of his left hand that burned absentmindedly into an ash tray beneath it, he stared down at the blank paperwork he was to fill out. He had a notepad that was covered in black ink and things crossed out as he tried to formulate a reasonable way to explain what had happened to him. It was becoming harder and harder the more he stared at the paper. Scrubbing a hand over his face, the detective leaned back in his leather seat, pulling the cigarette to his lips to take a puff. His amber eyes falling upon Joseph’s desk. His chest tightened as he stared at it, the top of it still having his things like he had just left for the day and would come back at any time. Everything was organized and in its proper place. Untouched by anyone. Someone had tried to clean up Joseph’s things but Sebastian wouldn’t let them. He just couldn’t let go, just yet. It was the thing with Myra all over again. He just couldn’t come to terms with what happened so he clung to whatever he could of theirs. Joseph was his desk, Myra was her case file and wedding band on his wedding finger, Lily was her drawings he had received from her and some of her stuffed animals that still sat around his apartment. He couldn’t bring himself to throw out his daughter’s beloved animals. Even if it was a bit ridiculous for a grown man to have bunnies and such around his apartment. He just couldn’t let go.

  
Breathing out smoke in a steady stream, he licked his dried lips as he tapped the filter of his cigarette over the ash tray to drop the column that was forming. It was late at night, few detectives and cops from KCPD were around, but he could see them through his blinds that were partially opened. All the lights in his office were on, which was uncharacteristic of him. They knew it too. He could see them pull worried glances at him whenever they thought he wasn’t looking. He just couldn’t stand to have shadows in his office now, not since Beacon. He knew what they could hide, what monsters lurked within them. Sometimes he doubted that this was the real world honestly. He was half expecting for Ruvik, in his white hood, to stand before his desk and throw him into another nightmare. He hadn’t been able to sleep since the incident. Not even his drinking helped to cease the nightmares that still flooded his mind about that place, that living nightmare hell. That wasn’t the only thing that seemed to follow him out of STEM. He was also always on edge, jumping at shadows that shifted in the corner of his vision. There had been a few times when he found himself reaching for his gun in the holster under his arm when a shadow ‘jumped.’ After realizing that he was just being ridiculous, he’d curse at himself and go back to what he was doing before. He couldn’t help his fingers from lingering around his gun though.

  
That and he could ‘see’ things. Like the memories that were shown to him in STEM, the ones that Ruvik was letting him see. He could see white wisp sometimes, forming into that of a person and walking around before disappearing, usually from hitting something solid or someone walking through them. No sound came from them though, like the ones in STEM. And these were less defined, he couldn’t make out who they were. Once they were gone however, his head would start pounding mercilessly and he’d have to sit down or lean against something to not fall over. It was a dizzying experience, one he thought he left behind at Beacon. Apparently not. That’s also why he thought he was still connected to the machine. He didn’t know why he would see these random white figures unless he was still in the system. So he kept on his guard, waiting for whoever was controlling this world to slip up and show him what was actually going on. And he’d wait patiently for that to happen. When it did, he’d be ready.

  
The door to his office was pushed open with a loud click and Sebastian jumped, eyes snapping towards the door as his hand immediately went to his gun. Although, he stopped himself mid-reach when he saw it was just his captain and instead, led the reach to grabbing his shot glass. “Castellanos,” His captain started before pausing to give the man a look as he downed his shot in one go, throwing his head back to do so. The captain would let it slid since Sebastian had gone through whatever it was that he had gone through but he couldn’t keep using that as an excuse to drink on the job. Shaking his head as the detective set the glass back on his desk, he made eye contact with the raven haired man. “It’s late, you should get some rest. Try going home or something. You can’t sleep on the beds here forever.” The man informed the detective before disappearing out the door.

  
Amber eyes watched the captain walk away with a sigh. He was right, Sebastian couldn’t stay at the department forever. Even if it was an enticing idea. Puffing the rest of his cigarette before putting it out in the ash tray, the detective put everything on his desk in the rightful drawers; that included his shot glass into the bottom drawer. Getting up from his seat, he moved over to the coat hanger that was in the corner of room and threw on his tan colored trench coat before making his way over to the door. Glancing back over his shoulder at the place, he gave Joseph’s desk one last sad look before opening the door, turning off the lights and closing it behind him. It didn’t take much for him to ignore the looks he was given. He was looking a bit rough around the edges with his stubble growing out longer than he often let it, dark bags under his eyes and his hair was a bit unruly. Sebastian slipped his hands into his pockets as he walked out of the precinct and into the cool night air. Luckily for him there were two street lamps right outside the department’s main doors. It helped keep the front doors as well as the alley ways on both sides of the department well lit. Which he was grateful for. Making his way to his car that was parked on the opposite side of the street, still covered in light, he reached and entered it without too much trouble. Placing the key into the ignition and starting it, the raven haired man pulled out another cigarette and lit it before putting the car into gear. When he lifted his eyes up to pull out his parking space, he froze.

  
There, across the street before him, stood the small form of Leslie, still in his medical ward attire. They made eye contact, Sebastian’s hand on the steering wheel tightening until his knuckles turned white. His heart sped up in his chest, hammer against his rib cage that he thought it was going to break out, his breathing became ragged through his nose and his mouth ran dry. Even blinking didn’t send form go away. _‘Is…this real?’_ he thought to himself with dread gripping his chest, making it tight. A car drove by. The boy disappeared. Sebastian’s head started to hurt immediately. He blinked once the boy was gone, finding that he could move again. Turning his head to look down both sides of the street, no one was there. No retreating figures. Nothing. Clutching the side of his head as his vision wavered before him, the detective had no choice but to wait for the pain to subside before he could start driving away. He didn’t want to cause an accident. He must have been hallucinating or something. That had to be it. There was no way that Leslie was here. He died, in the machine. Ruvik absorbed him – his cigarette dropped from his mouth and into his lap. Ruvik was Leslie now. That would explain why he saw him walking away from Beacon when he got out. But, that made no sense! He killed Ruvik, he squished his brain under his shoes in STEM. He couldn’t still be alive.

  
Hissing, the detective looked down at his lap to see the cigarette had started to burn a hole in his pants. Grabbing it, he popped it into his mouth with a curse, the pain in his head going away after the pain he felt in his leg. Hands back on the steering wheel, Sebastian pulled out of the parking space and made his way to his apartment.


	2. Chapter Two

The apartment building was exactly as he left it when he started work the day that he and Joseph had received the call to investigate a crime right before Beacon. It was a simple robbery but it was a good chance to teach Kidman the ropes of being a detective. She was surprisingly observant for someone so young and just entering the force. Sebastian had chalked it up to her being curious. Of course there were some things that she had overlooked, not seeming important to such a young mind that led her astray from what had really happened. With Sebastian and Joseph’s trained eyes and experience behind them, they had walk her through the crime scene, pointing out the things she missed. Well Sebastian did. Joseph was more of the silent, observant and jot down notes kind of person. Once he had formulated an explanation, then he’d speak his mind but only after he picked over the place with a fine toothed comb to really examine everything. Sebastian was more of the notice something and formulate as you go kind of detective. He often found himself reaching conclusions faster than Joseph but the younger man would find evidence that just backed up the story. They made a good team like that. It was their job to teach all this to Kidman, for her to find her own way to examining everything in an investigation. Of course when they had finished with their case, they were called to Beacon on the way back to the precinct. That’s when everything went to hell. Literally.

But the old place was a sight for sore eyes for sure. Everything was in its place, even if it was a bit messy. Climbing up the steps of the apartment building, three flights of stairs to get to the third floor, Sebastian walked down a familiar hallway that was covered with faded and worn carpet. He honestly found himself thinking it should just be ripped up and let the hardwood underneath have time to breathe a bit. Considering that the carpet smelled of foot sweat, soot, and vomit in some places, it would be doing the building a favor. But he couldn’t complain; he was actually happy to see the familiar stains in the carpet from drunken nights, not from him mind you, instead of the gore and blood from STEM. Ruvik’s mind was a mess. Shaking his head hard, he cast aside those thoughts as he counted the doors on his right side to get to his. Five doors, he was the second to last one on the right side of the building. He had wanted the corner room, the seventh one, but apparently it was already booked up. Even if he had seen nor heard anyone come or go from that side of him. It wouldn’t surprise him if it was used as some sort of extra space for someone to cheat on their significant other with whenever things got rocky. Considering his schedule was all over the place as a detective, it made the most sense as to why they hadn’t run into each other. Not that Sebastian stuck his nose into it too much. He would just like to know the people living around him.

The man across from him was a Veteran, retired military. Navy, if he remembered correctly. He was just living out the rest of his days watching the news and listening to the radio, sometimes being heard yelling at how the government was screwing the nation over at the television. The couple to his left had moved in from the country so the husband could work. The wife would be working too, if she wasn’t on maternity leave. From what Sebastian could tell, never having asked because of Lily, she looked about eight months. She was ready to pop at any moment now. And then of course he didn’t know the people to his right. Or person, whoever they were. The woman across from them, however, was a single mom of twin boys. They were roughly seven or so, so they were a rowdy bunch. The raven haired man sometimes had to keep them from running through the hall with a football and such. For their safety of course. He tried not to slip in as a father too much. The couple living to the right of the Veteran were a quite bunch. He hardly heard a peep from them, not that he really minded. He did see glimpses at times, them either coming or going while he was either coming or going himself.

For the most part, the detective tried to not nose into people’s business. He could at least sate his curiosity enough to be a good neighbor. Now that didn’t mean he wouldn’t go snooping if they had left their door open and no one was home. He had to, being a police officer and all. He’d have to make sure that they were alright and not harmed. Call it what you will, there was a reason he was a detective after all.

Jiggling the key into the lock to get the door open, Sebastian slipped inside without much trouble. The lights were all off but he could easily see down the hall of his apartment to the living room area thanks to the street lights right next to the building. He wasn’t that high up that they didn’t provide some light. Still not trusting the shadows, he flipped on his hallway light. It flickered for a moment from lack of use for a week or so before illuminating the hall. He felt relief wash over him when it came on. He was safe from the shadows at least. Filling the hallway walls were picture frames from happier times. Photos of Myra and his wedding, their honeymoon, and one of him kissing her very pregnant belly. There were photos of Lily as a little baby, still in diapers. There were ones for every birthday she had before she had passed. There were also framed pictures of Lily’s drawings that she had given him over the years. Most of them were of him catching the ‘bad guys’ and family drawings. His most favorite photo though, would have to be the one at the end of the hall where a three year old Lily was seated on his shoulders, one hand covering one of his eyes while the other was reaching up to pluck a leaf from the tree they were under. Myra had taken it when Sebastian wasn’t looking, obviously preoccupied with something else.

Walking into his living room, it looked exactly as he left it. Furthest from him was the fabric couch, able to fit three people, maybe four if they squeezed themselves in. It was a solid navy color, almost black it was so rich in the color. He wasn’t exactly too fond of the color, and neither was Myra when she was still there, living with him. After the fire that Lily had died in, they had to grab whatever furniture they could to help knit their lives back together. It just hadn’t worked out like that.

Littered around the couch were some beer cans, whiskey bottles and some glass shards. Before he reported in for the case the day he was connected to STEM, he had broken a shot glass after kicking it off the table. He had fallen asleep on the couch, which seemed to be a common occurrence for him whenever he drank himself to sleep. He had promised himself to clean it up when he got home. The irony of it all. On the coffee table was an ash tray full of ash and spent cigarettes. Some empty cartons were surrounding the tray. Taking up the other half of the coffee table was Myra’s case file. The pale yellow folder was laid open for all eyes to see, the different pages full of her hand writing spread out as best as they could be on the table’s surface. Some separate pages, sticky notes and filling up the margins of Myra’s pages were Sebastian’s own notes. Most were just saying that he was met with dead ends to the leads that she had left him. He was left with rereading all her notes that he could probably recite word for word to give him some clue as to what he was missing. She had obviously found something, seen a connection between Lily’s death and something else. Why couldn’t he? The television in front of the coffee table, against the wall that was closest to Sebastian was a standard unit. He had nothing fancy like Cable or anything. Just standard channels, mainly news. He was an officer, they were bland like that with their choices of television shows. It came with the work it seemed.

To the detective’s left was a smooth transition from living space to kitchen and dining area. It was all one big open room. The dining table was pressed against the wall, stationed in front of the window that let him see into the building across from him. Three chairs sat around the table; Sebastian only used one. Then there was the standard kitchen and utilities: a fridge that was often times full of alcohol more so than food, countertop and cabinet space with a stove in the corner of the large room. The refrigerator was closer to the table than was the stove. In between the two appliances was the sink, partially full of dishes still. With a sigh, the weary man set his keys in a bowl one a tall table at the end of the hallway to his left. It extended the barrier between living room and kitchen a bit more on that side of the room. He liked it there. Plus it was easy to grab his eyes when he had to go or drop them off when he got back from a long day’s worth of work. He slipped off his trench coat and draped it across the table top as well, not his usual spot to drop it off but it’d do for now. He made a beeline for his room which was to the side of the television, the door closed most of the time. Turning on the lights as he walked through his apartment, the bedroom light was the brightest by far. It nearly blinded him. Sebastian had to put his hand over his eyes to prevent from doing so. At least the bulbs were still good. Walking to the bed that was pressed against the wall in the center of the room, he sat down on the familiar mattress. It sank under his weight, groaning and complaining too. The raven started to take his shoes off, grunting during the process as his muscles were stiff from lack of good sleep and him being on edge all the time. Once his shoes were off, the man leaned back against the mattress to stare up at the blindingly white ceiling.

He didn’t think he could sleep to be honest. He wasn’t sure if he could relax enough to. He started to contemplate drinking himself to sleep, like he had been doing for the longest time now. With a sigh, the detective sat up as he scrubbed at his face roughly. Running both hands through his dark locks, Sebastian sighed before getting to his feet. Maybe a shower would relax him. It was at least a good place to start. He started to strip as he made his way to his connecting bathroom. First the tie that was only hanging from the back of his neck, then came off the vest. Next was the belt, since had one to use for every pair of pants he had. Flinging it to the side of the room, not sure where it landed, not that he cared at the moment; he stripped his button up shirt followed by his pants. In the bathroom, he slipped out of his boxers before stepping into the shower. Turning the water on, he adjusted the temperature before lathering shampoo into his hair. Once that was rinsed out, he started to scrub the grime of his body, finally feeling fresh for the first time since Beacon. Not that the precinct showers weren’t bad, it’s just if you wanted good quality soap or anything, you had to provide your own.

Exiting the steamy bathroom with a towel around his waist, he stopped right outside of the door way of the bathroom as his eyes were trained on a white figure. It ran around his room, oblivious to the bed in the middle of the room. Usually these figures would just disappear after running into something that was of the physical world but this one didn’t seem to be the case. The little figure, about the height of a child, seemed to be dodging and jumping away from something that was playing with it. As something seemed to erupt from under his bed frame, colliding with the child, they both disappeared, leaving a pounding headache in its wake. Immediately dizzy, Sebastian placed his hand against the wall to steady himself, letting the pain pass.

It took a minute, white dots dancing across his vision before it subsided. With an uneasy breath, still strained with pain, Sebastian slipped on a pair of boxers and climbed into bed. Leaving the lights on wasn’t probably the best way to sleep but it was the only way he could feel comfortable in his own home. It made him feel like a child once more, afraid of the monsters lurking in the dark. Ruvik ruined his reassurance that there were no monsters hiding under beds or in dark corners with his damned mind.

Laying there for a long while, Sebastian found that he could not relax. His amber eyes were trained on his dressed across from him with a pink bunny sitting on top of it when they weren’t closed. It was Lily’s, one of few that survived the fire. The pink bunny wasn’t her most favorite toy but was still high up there. She had given this one the name of Cotton Candy or Cotton for short. Letting out a harsh breath, the man got out of bed and approached the toy within a few strides. Gently picking the bunny up, he stared into its beaded black eyes for a long while before glancing up to the ceiling. “I’m too old for this,” he said to no one in particular but returned to bed with Cotton in hand. Getting comfortable under the blankets, he set the bunny on the pillow next to his so they were staring at each other. “You better not tell anyone about this, alright?” It made him feel a bit better. Although he was cursing himself mentally for talking to the bunny like it was real. He almost expected it to respond or nod its head. There was no telling what was going to happen in STEM. Still convinced that he was still connected, he thought that whoever was controlling it would make the rabbit respond. Or attack him, one of the two.

Closing his eyes, Sebastian put a hand on the bunny’s body to keep hold of it. The detective soon found himself falling into the comfort of sleep.


	3. Chapter Three

When Sebastian had woken up the next morning, he was a bit surprised to find that he hadn’t set an alarm to wake him up. Grumbling under his breath, knowing he would get shit for this at the department, he opened his eyes. He blinked. Something pink was covering his one eye completely while the other was only partially. He was confused at first, before picking his head up to see Cotton Candy under his head. Then he remembered that he had taken the bunny to bed with him to help him sleep. He felt a pang to his manly pride but got over it quickly. This was his daughter’s toy, he shouldn’t be ashamed of taking what little comfort he could from her, even if she had passed away.

The raven could only assume that Cotton was under his head because he was using him, her? He couldn’t remember what gender Lily gave the bunny. Anyway, she was under his head because he was using her as a pillow it would seem, and her ears had fallen to cover his eyes. Or maybe he positioned them like that to block out the light that was still on above him. That was just as likely as the former. Although, he was never really told he put things over his eyes except for his arm when he wanted to block out light while he slept. Myra often complained of him burying his head into her neck or back but that was it.

Getting out of bed since he wasn’t one to lounge around like a lazy person, he quickly got dressed in his detective attire of slacks, white button up shirt, black vest and, this time, a black tie. He couldn’t remember where he threw the red one when he took it off last night, unable to find it in the five seconds he took to locate it. He did find his belt though, which was in front of the bathroom door apparently. After he was all set, he walked into his living room, flinching at the sunlight that was filtering through his window. Covering his eyes with his hands as he let them adjust, he looked at the clock that was mounted on the wall above the television. It was one – twenty seven in the afternoon.

The man couldn’t help but groan as he scrubbed at his face. He was definitely late for work. When he located his phone however, still in the pockets of his trench coat, he saw that the captain hadn’t called him. The older man was probably letting Sebastian have some time off after Beacon most likely. Even if Sebastian had requested to carry on his work like normal. Obviously the others in the department were worried for him, not exactly knowing what had happened to him but they could assume it was bad if Sebastian was becoming paranoid. Two cops were presumed dead after all, even if Joseph’s body wasn’t found with the other dead cop in the tub, Sebastian had confirmed his death. Kidman was missing and was being searched for by the higher ups. Although, the raven just knew that they wouldn’t be able to find anything about her. He didn’t know who she was working for but they covered their tracks. Considering that when he woke up finally after STEM there was little evidence that left any sign of who set up everything, they cleaned up after themselves. All Sebastian knew was the name given to him from STEM: Mobius. He had never heard of such an organization, but apparently they were into some pretty shady shit, if Ruvik’s mind was any constellation to go off of.

Slipping his trench coat on, Sebastian put his phone into one of the pockets before picking up his keys. This time, on his way out, Sebastian turned off all the lights, no longer needing them to keep the darkness at bay. Once he was out of his apartment, the detective locked the door, having to jiggle the key a bit to make it work. “Damned thing needs to be replaced,” he grumbled to himself before slipping his keys into his pocket, making his way back to the ground floor. He was set on edge just a bit, since the building seemed to more quiet than what he was used to. It was early into the afternoon so most people would be at work or school if they were students. He was just used to late night noise or early morning happenings of getting ready for work. He had never left his own apartment this late into the day before and if he had, then he was with Joseph most likely so they were talking about a case. He never noticed just how abandoned the building seemed to get in the afternoon. It was unsettling. He couldn’t seem to keep his heart from pounding in his ears, just waiting for the impending doom that was to befall him. Once he was outside though, he could finally breathe without expecting trouble. Outside was full of noise: people going on their lunch breaks, cars going down the street, and others talking on their phones about whatever had their attention at the moment. Now that he was outside, feeling a bit triumphant in keeping his panic at bay, Sebastian pulled out a cigarette to light. Placing the filter between his lips, he fished for his lighter in his pockets.

“Need a light?” Someone from beside him asked. When Sebastian looked over, he noticed a teen leaning against the building, holding out a lighter for the older man to take. He was wearing some blue jeans, sneakers and a band teeshirt, a name on it he had never heard of nor recognized. He was smoking a cigarette himself, honestly looking too young to be starting such an addiction. Not to mention he looked like he should be in school at this time.

“Thanks.” Sebastian took the lighter and cupped the flame as he lit his cigarette. Handing it back to the boy without looking at him, he took a long puff of his own addiction. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Called out sick.” There were only a few reasons a high school student would do that.

“Test you didn’t study for?” After blowing out a column of smoke, he took another long drag.

The teen beside him laughed a bit. “Yeah, I forgot about it while I was trying to catch up on my homework. Just needed an extra day to cover the material.” Sebastian just hummed a response to that. He could remember a time where school work overwhelmed him. That was years ago, almost lifetimes. How things were so much simpler back then.

Feeling as if he had put off going to work long enough, Sebastian turned his head as he flicked the ash of his cigarette to the ground. When he opened his mouth to say something, eyes landing on the teenager, he froze. The face he was looking at wasn’t the face he was just talking to. Pale hair reflected in the sunlight, skin looking sickly and drained of color, eyes that were absent from the real world but could still focus on a subject. It was Leslie again. Sebastian started to sweat, unable to move in his shock. His limbs locked up and he could feel himself starting to shake. _‘Move god dammit!’_ He demanded of his limbs but they just wouldn’t listen. Leslie just stared back at him, still wearing his patient robes.

The spell broke when he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him. Amber eyes blinked, finally seeing the real world again for what it was. The teenager was standing before him again, concern laced over his young features. “Old guy! Hey old guy! Don’t seize up on me, I don’t know how to handle those!” Sebastian was confused at first over what the young man was talking about before a pain erupted in his mind. Clutching his head, the detective had to find something to put his weight against. He couldn’t find anything immediately and the world started to tip a bit. “Whoa there. Here, sit down.” The teenager eased Sebastian onto the front steps of the apartment building so he could sit.

The raven had dropped his cigarette at this point, both hand clutching at his head to help ease the pain in his head. He must be going insane or something. He was seeing Leslie when he wasn’t even around. Was that his guilt? His remorse for not saving the kid even when he tried? He knew that he could sometimes hear Lily’s voice when she passed but it was never something like this. No, this was a new level of insanity for him. Maybe he should go to the doctor to get this checked out. “You alright there buddy?” And like that, the pain was gone. Blinking way the black spots of his vision after suffering from such a mental attack, the detective shakily got to his feet. “I don’t think you should be standing up yet. Want me to call someone? The hospital maybe?”

Shaking a black head of hair, Sebastian stepped on his half-finished cigarette to put it out. “I’m fine.” His voice was strained still. Before anything else could be said, Sebastian started to move towards his car to get to work. He was still shaking when he was seated in the driver’s seat. Reaching into the glove box, he pulled out a flask of whiskey from it. Taking a quick swig, the burn was enough to ground him, the familiar taste helped him stop shaking. Letting out a breath, the detective took one more swig before placing the flask into his back pants’ pocket. It was going to be one of those days it would seem.

Oddly enough, when he walked into the precinct, the people around seemed surprised to see him. Did they think he just wasn’t going to come in today? Casting them a stoic expression, he made his way to his office to get to work. He was in the middle of taking off his coat when the door opened behind him. “Castellanos, I thought you weren’t coming in today.” His captain was checking up on him again. Sebastian felt a bit irritated, he was a grown man. He didn’t need babysitting, despite what Joseph believed sometimes.

“I never agreed to that. I still have to write up my report,” he informed his superior.

“Sebastian.” The raven looked over his shoulder to the older man. “If you need time off –“ He started.

“I’m fine Captain. I just need to get back into a routine. That’s all,” Sebastian assured, moving to his desk now that his coat was on the hanger. Taking out the paperwork he had started for the Beacon incident, he started to scribble on the paper, making it seem like he was working. He left no room for argument so the older man left, closing the door behind him. Amber eyes followed the man as he left before dropping his pen to lean back into his chair. Digging his thumb and index fingers into his eyes, he left them that way until he saw spots. It helped bring him some relief, just not much. Once he could finally see once more, he looked down at the scribbling he had put down just to appear busy.

_My partner Joseph and I, with my charge Kidman were responding to a call for a possible multiple homicide on our way back from finishing a case. Officer Connelly turned the car toward the direction of Beacon_

That’s where he seemed to have stopped. It wasn’t a bad start but after that, things just got crazy really fast. It was going to be a long day it seemed.


	4. Chapter Four

Someway, somehow, Sebastian had managed to write up a report about the incident at Beacon. He didn’t know how he did it but he did. He wasn’t sure if he should be relieved, happy or worried for his career now. Maybe a mix of all three would be able to describe the bundle of emotion in his gut he was currently feeling. Throughout the report, as he described the events that happened in STEM, he reminded the person who would be reading it, even himself, that this was all in a madman’s mind so it wasn’t real. It was just a horrible nightmare that he was dragged into with Joseph and Kidman. He just hoped this wouldn't get him fired or worse, thrown into a mental hospital. Because that’s what he needed right now. He was half tempted to just rip up his report and start over but honestly, the way he had it written on paper was the best way he could probably ever put it. Not wanting to risk sounding even crazier than he already was, he signed the papers to turn them in. Now all he had to do was wait for the consequences of doing so. He could feel that something bad was going to happen because of this, he didn’t know how but he just knew. Something was stirring in the wind, he could just sense it. Not wanting to think more on it, Sebastian entered his office again after dropping his paperwork off in the captain’s office. There wasn’t much to do now oddly enough. All the other officers seemed to be taking care of the cases that had come up while the raven was in STEM. He was hoping that there’d be something for him to dive in to once he finished up his loose ends from Beacon. It would seem that he was wrong.

Fishing a cigarette from his carton on his desk, he snatched his lighter from the wooden surface to make his way outside. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to smoke in his office but the captain let it slid sometimes. He only really smoked in his office whenever he was extremely stressed. Normally, he’d take his cancer stick outside as to not bother anyone. Some people didn’t like the smell of burning tobacco and nicotine. It was an acquired taste it would seem. Or a learned addiction, however you wanted to look at it.

He was almost out of the department when he saw a white figure out of the corner of his eyes. Blinking, he turned to look, seeing a faded figure walking into the precinct, arm thrashing about like it was yelling at someone. Amber eyes couldn’t advert themselves from the ghostly figure as it seemed to shout on and on about something. He then saw two men approach him to calm him down, or confront him. He couldn’t tell honestly. But one of them was wearing a police hat, making him blinked a bit. Then he seemed to recall, some man before Beacon had come into the department demanding to speak to a detective or the captain to find his missing wife. He wouldn’t calm down until the captain had spoken to him, Sebastian pointedly ignoring the man because he just wasn’t going to try to explain that he was a detective himself. Joseph was one of the men that approached him, along with a colleague. But, that didn’t make any sense. Why was he seeing a replay of what had happened before Beacon?

He felt someone place a hand on his shoulder, breaking his trance and causing the figures to disappear like vapor. Grunting as a sharp throb started to happen in his head, Sebastian moved his hand out to the nearest desk to brace himself. He just wasn’t expecting the corner he placed his hand on to give way under his weight because papers weren’t allowing him to get a grip on the desk’s surface. Sheets with black ink scribbling on them flew to the ground, the raven following suit as the world tipped and his side met the floor painfully. He clutched the side of his head on the ground, eyes closed tightly to make the pain go away. What the hell was going on!? Hands grabbed at him from all sides to help him up. Only, in his daze, he thought he was back in STEM for a moment so he thrashed about, refusing to let them help.

“Don’t you fucking touch me!” He snapped, stiffly picking himself up to round off on whatever monster creation Ruvik was sending his way. Only when he opened his eyes, all he saw were the familiar uniforms of the other officers. The pain slowly seeped away from his mind, leaving him uneasy and shaking once more. Rubbing his temple as he hissed, he tuned back into the noise that was happening around him, not realizing that his hearing had been replaced with muffled versions of what was being said. It was almost like he had cotton in his ears for a moment.

“Castellanos, you need to go to the hospital,” his captain said to him, picking up the nearby office phone to call for an ambulance.

Since it was within arm’s reach of the detective, he easily reached over and pressed the hang up button so he couldn’t make the call. “I’m fine, just light headed is all,” Sebastian tried to assure the older man, who seemed to be having none of it.

“Being light headed doesn’t warrant snapping at the people trying to help you off the ground. I don’t know what happened to you while you were in the mental hospital but if you have any sort of emotional trauma –“

“I said I’m fine. I’m just tired.” Amber eyes made contact with mocha brown ones. The two had a stare off for a few moments before the captain let out a sigh.

“Damn it Sebastian. Fine.” The older man pinched the bridge of his nose. “Go home then. And don’t come in tomorrow. Take the time to rest and recover. Bradly, escort the detective to his apartment.”

“I don’t need a –“

“That’s an order. If you refuse to go to the hospital, then you’re going to have to live with an escort.” With that, the older man walked away, leaving no room for arguments. With a frustrated sigh, the raven looked over to the officer that was supposed to take him home. Bradly was a skinny little fellow, just entered into the force two months ago actually. Fresh from the police academy. His dirty blonde hair was trimmed to academy standards, his face without a single hair on it from shaving so cleanly. His uniform was pressed and clean, showing that it was well taken care of. Yeah, he was definitely from the academy. The younger officer was standing beside him, waiting for him to leave the precinct. With a grumble, the detective moved to his office to grab his tan trench coat, slipping it on as he walked with Bradly to his police car.

“Let’s go kid.”

The blond dropped him off at his apartment building. He had offered to walk Sebastian to his room but the older had refused. He didn’t need to baby sat like this, he was a grown man. So with the little pride he had left after having a mental lapse in front of his department, he walked himself up to his room. Since it was only about seven at night, he wasn’t exactly tired enough to go to sleep yet. Wiggling the key into the lock to get it open, Sebastian walked down the familiar hallway, taking a chance to cast his eyes over the frames. His chest tightened a bit, his heart still aching with a dull pain that wouldn’t go away. The only thing that blocked it out was whiskey it seemed. Placing his keys into the bowl that kept his keys, he slipped out of his trench coat. Sebastian then made his way to the kitchen for food and a drink. There wasn’t much he could eat that wasn’t growing hair or turning green. He’d have to clean out his fridge when he had time.

With a sigh, he grabbed a beer from the line up and closed the door. Looks like he’d be ordering take out tonight. The raven plopped down on his couch, popping the tab of his can of beer once he sat down. Sipping at the frizz that spilled over a bit, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and ordered some Chinese. All he had to do was give his address and the people there already knew what to give him. He was pretty sure they knew his number by heart with how often he called. Now all he had to do was wait for his dinner to come to him. To kill time, he turned on the news, happy to see that nothing was being said about Beacon. A knock came at his door. Glancing at the clock, he set his nearly finished beer aside and turned off the television. “That was fast,” he found himself mumbling. Usually it took roughly thirty minutes or so to get him his food. Twenty had passed. Slow night most likely, he chalked it up to. Going down the hallway, he opened the door without checking through the peep hole. Why would he when he was expecting food?

Sebastian opened his door to see two men in stiff black suits and ties. They had the sun glasses on and everything. At first he thought they were Feds but something seemed off with them. “Sebastian Castellanos, you need to come with us.”

“Badges,” He stated stiffly, brows pulled close together in a look of concern.

The two exchange a quick glance before pulling out a badge that stated that the individual was FBI. Still unsure about the two men in front of him, Sebastian leaned against the door frame easily, trying to appear none threatened as he mentally assessed the two. “What’s this about?” They were calm, keeping to their professional appearance. They both had dark hair, the one on his left being a slightly lighter shade of brown than the one of his right. Both of their hair was lighter than his own, that was for sure. With the glasses covering their eyes, he couldn’t tell if they were nervous, lying, anything like that. With them standing like they were statues, sticks up their asses basically, he wasn’t able to read them. Their body language was stiff as can be. The one on his right was slightly shorter than the man with the lighter hair color, but he was a bit wider, more built. The taller was a bit lankier, scruffier too. The shorter had a clean shaven face with tightly groomed hair. The taller was a bit more relaxed with his appearance, some stubble on his face with short, loose hair.

“We’ll explain later. If you have a coat, go grab it.” Sebastian didn’t move an inch. He just rose an eyebrow. He was damn sure these guys weren’t with the FBI, despite what the badge said now. Government officials held a certain air about them, a posture that wasn’t mistakable. These idiots weren’t following the same code that he had come to know the FBI to follow.

“Come on guys, give a guy a break. Do it for ol’ time’s sake, help a fellow officer out.” They glanced at each other again. The raven moved to close the door on them quickly but he wasn’t fast enough as the one to his left put his foot against the door to keep it open. He then reached forward and grabbed the back of the detective’s neck. When Sebastian moved to duck out of it, the man took a step forward and jammed a fist into the detective’s gut, close to the diaphragm to knock all the air out of his lungs. “Fuck,” he hissed as he dropped to his knees, arms curling around his stomach to protect it from more damage. He nearly threw up from the blow but luckily, he hadn’t. The one who punched him moved around him, prying his arms from around his body and cuffing his wrists behind his back. He then hauled him to his feet, despite Sebastian still trying to curl up on himself. The two suits took one arm each and half escorted Sebastian down the hall, half dragged at the detective coughed roughly to catch his breath.

“You son-of-a-bitch, what the fuck is going on!?” He demanded once he caught his breath, on the ground floor as they led him outside. Pulling amber eyes up to the black, unmarked car that was parked right in front of the apartment building, he saw a familiar person sitting in the driver’s seat waiting for the others to get into the vehicle. One of the men shoved Sebastian into the car rather ungracefully as the other took up point next to him in the back seat. Looking in the review mirror at the front of the car, he caught the full face of who the third person was. “Joseph?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the late update guys. I was really hoping to keep this going for a while as I was writing it. I actually forgot about it for a bit. Then I somehow remembered and reread it. So now I'm very much interested in finishing this. Yay!
> 
> And no! I refuse to believe that Joseph is gone gone. Like permanently. Like dead. I refuse!


	5. Chapter Five

His partner didn’t respond to him, hell, his fellow detective didn’t even look at him. Brows knitted together in confusion, Sebastian straightened himself in the back seat of the car so he was more comfortable, although sitting with your hands behind your back in a car seat was painfully uncomfortable. Joseph put the car into gear as soon as all the doors were closed and they peeled off down the road. They kept to the speed limits, not wanting to bring any attention to themselves as they escorted Sebastian to wherever they wanted to take him. “What the hell is going on!?” He demanded again, the three agents ignoring him. “Joseph, I thought you were dead!” The younger man driving didn’t look away from the road from what he could see. “Kidman shot you! I don’t understand!” He struggled against the cuffs, knowing they wouldn’t give. The man next to him quickly landed a punch to his jaw, causing his tooth to split his bottom lip open on the inside. He tasted copper in his mouth, bringing him back to the time when he was in STEM. Adrenaline started to go through his blood, he could feel it as he started to shake uncontrollably. These guys weren’t good news. Even if that was Joseph driving, it wasn’t his partner. They did something to him. After Beacon, that had to be it.

Growling, Sebastian spit blood in the face of the man next to him. The passenger in the car tried to lean back to do something. Sebastian wouldn’t allow it, as he jammed his heel into the man’s wrist when it passed the middle counsel between driver and passenger seats. Dropping whatever he had in his hand, it being metallic, it landed by Sebastian’s feet. “Knock him out!” The passenger ordered as the man next to Sebastian pulled something out of his coat pocket. The raven fought back by slamming his shoulder into the suit next to him, stunning him a bit as he made him drop what looked to be a syringe. Sedative most likely.

As Sebastian used his foot to get the metal needle over to his side of the car, the man punched him again to daze him. Which worked as he felt his hair being grabbed to force his head to the side, exposing his neck. Before the ‘agent’ could jam the needle into his skin though, the screeching of wheels could be heard along with some curses from the driver. The passenger was yelling at Joseph to keeping going, to not to stop but the younger seemed to not be able to. With a violet jerk, the car came to a stop which would equate to a car crash, only it didn’t stop there. The car actually flipped over onto its side, rolling a few times before hitting something hard to make it stop. Sebastian was tossed about the car a bit, since he wasn’t buckled in, actually hitting his head a few times on the door and glass next to him. The smell of burnt rubber, gasoline and smoke filled his nose immediately. Coughing from the wreck they had just gotten in, Sebastian blinked away the haze that came over his vision when he smacked his head against the car window. It would seem that the car was upside down, Joseph hanging from his seat belt to remain in the seat, hands dangling down against the roof of the car. The passenger of the car seemed to be missing along with the windshield, which could only mean one thing. The guy next to him was on the roof of the car with him, bleeding from his head rather profusely. He wouldn’t be moving any time soon.

Gazing around a bit, Sebastian looked to the rear window, seeing that it was extremely cracked, more so then his side door’s glass. Bracing himself against the door’s glass, he started to kick at the rear window, the noise causing Joseph to stir a bit. He had gotten three kicks in before a sharp, high pitched screech filled his ears, similar to the one he heard in STEM whenever Ruvik had made his appearance. He flinched, stopping his actions as he closed his eyes against the noise. It made his head hurt like in STEM. Suddenly the glass behind him shattered into tiny pieces and the noise stopped. But the sound of glass breaking echoed in his ears loudly. Hands grabbed his shoulders and yanked him out of the wreckage of the crash before he could really do anything. He couldn’t see who was behind him as they started to drag him away, not even bothering to let him get his footing. He could feel a coolness at the side of his head, which most likely meant that he too was bleeding there. Coughing from the smoke that seemed to be surrounding them, he looked over his shoulder to see a pale face with equally pale eyes. It was Leslie.

“Leslie?” He coughed as the shorter man stopped dragging him, letting him fall onto his back with a grunt.

“Not quite,” the white haired man smiled down at Sebastian. His voice was strange, it wasn't the soft voice he was used to hearing from the timid man. Rather, it was deeper, more mature and held the confidence that Ruvik had...

‘Fuck,’ He found himself thinking. It was Ruvik. Ruvik was Leslie now. He took his body. As he tried to pick himself up, finding it difficult with his arms still behind his back, he heard the distinct sound of gun shots. The ringing in his ears made it difficult to discern where the shots had come from. Focusing his eyes back at the crash as he rolled over, Ruvik’s attention now back at the car as well. He could see Joseph fire a gun at their direction. Well, more so at Ruvik. Only, the bullets didn’t make it to him, they would stop a few inches from his body then fall to the ground. Like a force field was around him. ‘Fuck,’ He thought once more as he tried to get to his feet. He couldn’t though, as that loud pitched screech came into his head again. Writhing in pain on the ground, Sebastian tried desperately to get to his feet, despite the noise making him want to curl up in pain on the ground. He could hear screaming from Joseph and a few other people as they struggled against the noise along with him.

Sebastian made it to his knees although he was hunched over so much that his forehead almost touched the pavement of the road. “Stop it,” he said, voice raspy from a raw and dry throat. “Stop it!” He yelled weakly this time, not knowing that he had grabbed Ruvik’s attention finally. “I said stop! You’re hurting them!” Sebastian was referring to the people around them who had gotten out of their cars to check the wreckage for survivors. He could hear their screams around the ringing and could only imagine what it was doing to them. His eyes started to water as he stared at the pavement, unable to lift his head from his kneeling position. He closed his eyes instead.

He couldn’t hear if Ruvik had said something to him but somehow, the ringing in his ears subsided. It wasn’t as loud, as ear piercing. Or, was it in his head? He couldn’t tell anymore. His head just hurt and he was starting to get dizzy. He was sure that his vision would be going in an out of focus had his eyes been opened.

Suddenly, something grabbed onto his arm and started to pull him backwards, just like how he was pulled out of the car and away from the crash. His eyes snapped open although he immediately regretted it with the light that assaulted his eyes from the sun. He looked over his shoulder to follow the hand that had grabbed onto him once again. Leslie - no, Ruvik - was pulling him away again. "W-wait!" He tried to struggle but the grip on his arm just got tighter. For such a small figure that Leslie had, it was sure strong now. Perhaps it was because Sebastian was so weak from the car crash. Yes, that's what he'd tell himself to soften the blow to his pride.

He started to dig his heels into the pavement to try and get some footing. Alas he was so dizzy that he couldn't even right himself even if he wanted to. "Stop struggling!" Ruvik demanded as he threw Sebastian onto the ground rather roughly. Luckily his back didn't meet hard pavement but rather soft grass instead. It still hurt like a bitch though, what with his injuries from the crash. The raven would definitely be feeling those in the morning. If there was even a morning for him to wake up to. With Ruvik, he was sure he wouldn't last long around the man.

The white haired man leaned over the detective, placing both hands on either side of his face. Sebastian tried to pull away from him, unsure and untrusting of what the other was going to do. Right before the two locked eyes, there was an explosion at the crash. Sebastian's instincts kicked in immediately. Those people, they could be hurt. Joseph! "Joseph!" He yelled as he moved to kick Ruvik away from him. He had to go check on him. He had to go make sure his friend was ok. But his moves were sluggish as Ruvik easily evaded the kick that was directed at him like it was nothing. They locked eyes despite the detective's struggles and then, Sebastian's vision turned completely blurry before he lost consciousness.


End file.
